In this episode, we explore the pro-life movement’s impact and the broader call for religious unity and moral leadership. Father Andre reflects on the pivotal events in the United States and Lebanon, urging listeners to pray for elected officials and engage in acts of charity and reconciliation. Through the lens of biblical teachings and modern-day challenges, he calls for a return to core values that uphold the dignity of every human life and a commitment to serve others in the light of love and mercy.
00:00:05 Introduction and Father Andre’s Background
Andrei lusto mini nuncia vit Maria At age 10, Father Andre escaped Christian massacres by living in caves in Mount Lebanon with his family. Today, Father Andre works tirelessly to encourage American leaders to keep God in the public square, defending religious freedom at home and abroad, so that all might live in peace for the glory of God. Founder and president of the Mission of Hope and Mercy, Father Andre has learned the secret to safety, joy, and peace. Love God and one another. Now, let us spend 33 minutes on the Lord’s Day, retuning ourselves to the truth of love in the hands of God.
SPEAKER 01 :
Praise be the most holy name of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, now and forever and ever. Amen. Good Sunday to you, my dear friends, and I want to thank you for putting up with me. We have been between travels and working for the mission. Many things have changed in the world. There is a presidential election after almost two years and a little bit over in Lebanon. And finally, Lebanon succeeded electing a president. As you might know or not, but it is good that we share this information with you to know Lebanon is the only country in the Middle East outside of Israel that you could still speak about presidential election and democratic process. Basically, in this presidential election and the democratic process, there is actually voting. People vote. Deputies, parliamentary members, they actually vote. It’s true that they vote based on their ethnic religions and their social preferences and beliefs. their connections to their own local cultural or ethno-religious identities. However, they vote, and they vote based on the fact that they either build a Lebanon that is one country under God, also indivisible, with justice and liberty to all, just like we have in the United States. But in the oral constitution of Lebanon, in the oral constitution of Lebanon, we call it al-mithak al-watani. So the patriotic act, a patriotic act, which was signed in 1943 for the very first time. The Lebanese people made a pledge between one another that always the president of the Lebanese Republic, when he or she is elected, is to be a Maronite Catholic. So always the president of Lebanon is Maronite Catholic. In such a way, Lebanon stands as the only country in the entire Middle East whose president is actually not Muslim. Of course, Israel as well, the Jewish nation, you have by fact of its establishment that the Israeli government also vote and elect an Israeli Jewish person to be the president of the state of Israel. So these are the only two countries in the entire Middle East. Imagine, the Middle East has about 300 or 350 million people, and many countries are in the Middle East. Most of them speak Arabic. Lebanon and Israel will be the only two countries that are governed by the highest ranking public official that is not from the Muslim religion. One is Maronite Catholic, and that is in Lebanon, and the other is Jewish, that is in the state of Israel. It’s true also to be said that the general government, the Lebanese National Defense Army, so the Lebanese militaries basically, is also to be Maronite Catholic by law. So always according to the same patriotic act or patriotic pledge that the Lebanese people came together in 1943 to do together. It is true that the general government, the militaries in Lebanon is always to be appointed as Maronite Catholic. Also another fact, it’s true that the leader of the Federal Bank, the Reserve of Lebanon, the Federal Bank of Lebanon is also to be Maronite Catholic. So in such a way, the Christians in the Middle East have always looked through Lebanon and knew that they are expressing their existence. They are fulfilling their obligations and their rights and their duties. They are part of a democratic process. This is so beautiful to see that how in the Middle East. uh… emmets uh… basin and ocean of uh… the muslim nations that there is a call existence of model inside lebanon and inside israel that allows aid i’ve been city and the government and diversity to state that other people of course, historically older than the Muslim population, existed always in that land and they still exist and they still contribute to the public life and actually have wonderful relationships. They always aim to have wonderful relationships with the region of the Middle East. Looking at this, we come to the United States as well and we know that there has been election in the United States and we want to congratulate President Donald J. Trump for winning the presidential election as well. And for the second time, not in a row, but a second term, the American people, through their popular vote, not only the actual votes, but the popular votes are very important, that they voted also for a president of their choice. We want to pray for his safety, for his family, for his wife, for his children. for his work and for his team that is working for him. in the United States and outside. As you might have seen and you might know, a few of the events which probably about 800,000 people expected to come to Washington, D.C. to participate in the inaugurative sworn ceremony, this particular event and the parade were canceled. The weather was cold, as we are told, very, very, very cold. like in many other places in the United States of America, including places in Florida and Louisiana. It seems they experienced beautiful snow. And it was kind of really, really cold. But those events, which the people look forward to, they were canceled. Events were moved indoor. Nonetheless, the actual ceremony was historical, as you have seen it on TV. And the speech of the president was also historical. It is embedded by facts to fight for life. It was embedded by promises and pledges to bring back the United States to the balance of its behavior, to the balance of its relationship. You know, three words definitely count the most during this week and from the president’s speeches, because he spoke a few times in many places. But when he says we will not forget America and he said we will not forget the people and we will not forget God. It is important that the president of the United States of America and his inaugurative speech and the many small speeches that followed, which are very important speeches, would stand and state on behalf of the American people. on behalf of the voters who voted for him, on behalf of the American government, to pledge to the whole world in the third millennia at the 2025, which is a jubilee year in which we have entered in the third millennium, first hundred years, celebrating 25 years already into the hundred. And during this Jubilee year, a president will stand and he will say, we will not forget God. It’s amazing to know this. We thank God for that. With this, my friends, we wanna pray for the safety of the elected officials. We wanna pray for the safety and the unity inside our land of the United States of America. There is no question there are many challenging aspects of the president’s agenda. There are many, if I may call them, sensitive social issues in the agenda of the president that they need a great maneuver, maneuver that serves justice. yet at the same time does not lack mercy. A maneuver that serves the truth, yet at the same time does not lack understanding. A maneuver that serves the rule of the law of our land, yet at the same time still regards the human condition and the human situation in certain cases, case by case. So we really want to pray for wisdom for this president. When And the pendulum, you know, if you’re looking at a clock, at a watch on the wall, and you see this pendulum swinging between the right and the left all the time. Hopefully, between the outgoing administration and this incoming administration, the pendulum is coming back simply to the middle a little bit. It’s not swinging hard right, and it’s not swinging hard to the left. If it swings in such a way very hard between left all the way to the right and then right to the left, I think this may not be necessarily a good thing for our makeup as a nation. So we have a little window with President Donald J. Trump in these next four years in which we will be together is to completely try to calm down the pendulum in a way that it will swing not harshly, not all the way to the far right, not all the way to the far left, but it goes back to a very balanced swinging in the middle that would remain always between peace, justice, liberty, prosperity, protecting the family, protecting the freedom of all, at the same time respecting and applying the rules and the laws of the land, honoring God and honoring our neighbor, being charitable, yet at the same time, I know the president is not a charity organization, And the U.S. government is not a charity organization. It’s there to represent the people in a way that it manages the diversity of all the people to give us our equal rights, our equal protection, our equal opportunities, equal safety. Of course, for us to raise our families, provide for our families, find the works that we need to find and benefit from the return of our taxes that we pay for our government and at the same time enjoy the right to the pursuit of happiness and the right to prosperity. It is up to us as American people in return to also see through these great and golden opportunities that the president and his government have promised and are giving us. But first of all, before we go to some of these promises, we want to take a major stop this week. Because remember, January 22nd is the anniversary of Roe versus Wade. And, you know, it’s a day that is established by the church in America and by the pro-life movements in America as one of the penance and reparation for abortions. And it has been formally named as the Day of Prayer for the Legal Protection of Unborn Children. And also on Friday, January 24, there are great activities happening in Washington DC, the March for Life for once. And the Vice President of the United States of America, have addressed the crowd and the people speaking about the pro-life movement. And there have been a national prayer day service for the pro-life. It’s the 30th annual national prayer service. It’s interdenominational, of course. There is a national memorial for the pre-born and their mothers and fathers. And this happened in January 24, this Friday at 8.30 in the morning till 10.30 a.m. It was so beautiful that we started our days in 2025 as Father Frank Pavone, the leader for the Priests for Life, have said that we begin our 2025 year with a March for Life at this interdenominational prayer service. which took place from 8.30 to 10.30 at the Constitution Hall, at the dark Constitution Hall. Of course, there was a Catholic Mass at 7.30 a.m. And this march or this event is a time for prayer, praise, music, and inspiring speakers, of course. You know, in the event participated the pro-life leader, Fr. Frank Pavone, who’s the National Director of Priests for Life, And also Alvida King, the honorary co-chair. Also, the actual National Pro-Life Recognition Award was given this year to the Florida governor, Randy Santis. and to the South Dakota Governor Kristi Noem, and to the Nebraska Governor Jim Pyle, and the governors in the three states that defeated the pro-abortion ballot amendments in 2024. These are the three governors, basically. Also recognized will be pro-life, or there were pro-life advocates in all 10 states who worked tirelessly to defeat the 2024 pro-abortion ballot amendments, such the one that happened in Arizona, in Colorado, Florida, Maryland, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, Nevada, New York, and South Dakota, as well as those in Minnesota and Arkansas who successfully kept the amendments of the ballot. Likewise, they were invited to participate the additional states who had abortion-related ballot measures over the last two years, namely Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, Kentucky, California, and Vermont. The pro-life leaders and groups in those places deserved recognition for their hard work as well. these events, my friends, are very important. And the pro-life movement is a very important movement. But next, where do we go from here? First of all, we go to prayer. We want to pray. for Almighty God to protect the mothers. I think the next on the agenda of the pro-life movement after they had overturned Roe versus Wade is to start caring for the mothers. We need to embrace every girl, every young mother who has a pregnancy and needs the support of her family, of her friends, of these institutions, of these pro-life movements. I want to tell you, this day has been a day of a prayer for the legal protection of unborn children. And I want to say something that was said by St. Mother Teresa of Calcutta when she attended the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, D.C., back on February 5th of 1994. She says, and I quote, “…any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use violence to get what they want.” That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. I’d like us to take a moment and I want us to repeat what Saint Mother Teresa of Calcutta had said at that national prayer breakfast in Washington, D.C., back on February 5th, 1994. That was probably two years before she passed away or three years before she passed away. Let’s repeat it again. Any country that accepts abortion is not teaching its people to love, but to use violence to get what they want. That is why the greatest destroyer of love and peace is abortion. With this, my friends, on this week that we have entered into the 2025 with presidential elections for countries who are looking in their uniqueness to serve life, to serve God, to honor their citizens and to serve the agenda of peace in the world. And I’m talking namely in Lebanon and in the United States of America. Let us pray also in this pro-life time, in this pro-life movement, in the day of prayer for the legal protection of unborn children. Let us pray. O God, our Father and Creator, we give thanks to you who alone have the power to impart the breath of life as you form each of us in our mother’s womb. Grant, we pray, that we whom you have made the stewards of creation may remain faithful to the sacred trust and constant in safeguarding the dignity of every human life from conception until natural death. We ask this through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, your only Son who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God forever and ever. Amen. Hallelujah. And with that, my friends, let us take a moment and let us pray also with Psalm 38. You know, today we want to pray, we want to pray because there is a lot of… the war at this point is big, the promises about life, the promises about justice, and remember there is the release of prisoners from jail as well, including priests who stood up for the pro-life movement who were jailed under the previous administration, This cambiamento, as we say in Italian, this change, many 200 executive orders have been signed. Prisoners have been released from jail, you know, that had to do with the January 6th of 2020. People were pardoned by the previous administration. There is something going on in this battle between the right and the left. Is it really a battle between good and evil? Is it really a battle between the kingdom of heaven and the power of Satan? many interpretations, right? But we know for a fact we need to pray that all public officials and all leaders, whether in our government and religious leaders and the world, they need to promote peace and they need to also start thinking and applying the will of God conforming their personal will, parties in a political arena, lobbies in a political arena, tech companies in a political arena, military companies, human health companies, all sorts and all forms of lobbies, of associations, societies, houses of powers, networks of influence in the world. There is a huge fight, myself, and it really, it crushes a human being’s heart. We cannot, face all these negative ideologies if these negative ideologies are not stopped. So God raises leaders from time to time, but God also raises people. And God also sometimes uses martyrs. There is a lot of injustice been happening in the world, right? Many people have been persecuted. Many people have been unjustly treated. Ask me, my friends, about injustice. Ask me about persecution. I could tell you a lot. But sometimes the best word we speak when we are severely persecuted, when we are targeted for who we are, for what we stand for, and what our livelihood is being taken away from us, our nature of who we are and what we do in our personal and public vocations are under attack. Sometimes these situations put us in a harsh spot between the silence of God and the harshness of the persecutor. It’s called an abusive situation. We want to pray under this administration that all forms of abuse will stop. All forms of weaponization of government and of power, abuse of power, abuse of office will cease, will desist and will stop. We want to pray that the good people in the United States move forward in the reconciliation with God. Trust me, my friends, every human being, we need to spend these four years and the years to come to reconcile our lives, our works, our houses, our families, our neighbors, our cities, our neighborhoods. Let us all reconcile back with God. It is important that we do such a thing. This is again Father Andre and the Mission of Hope and Mercy. I want to thank you so very much for your support. I want to thank those who have been greatly supporting our work at the Mission of Hope and Mercy. We always count on you. We always count on your generosity. So for those who like to continue helping the Mission of Hope and Mercy, which I really, really encourage you so much to do, please don’t forget to go to our website, missionofhopeandmercy.org. Be the light of hope with us in Lebanon and in areas in the Middle East, wherever you can. You know, remember, a gift of $34, a gift of $100, a gift of $500, a gift for $1,000, every gift will supply and provide for something in return. The minimum gift will provide food for one family at least for a month if we can. A generous gift will provide food and clean water for three families for one month if we can. A more generous gift could support urgent medical care for up to five families. And a wonderful, wonderful generous gift and $1,000 and up could supply winter clothing, shelter for 10 displaced families facing freezing conditions through these winter months. And thank God, up to this point, winter has been a little bit soft, not too harsh. This is your moment to be the light and the darkness, not only through our vote as citizens in the United States of America, but this is a time where we can stop conflicts. This is a time where we can fight against persecution. This is a time where we can bring back families to be united again. This is a time where we can break the hand of the abusers whether religious leaders and high ranked offices or leaders of nations or leaders in the public sphere of life who abuse their office, weaponize their office to hurt the people. This is a time for us as a people in the United States of America that we can stand together. So I please ask you and I beg you for your help to continue supporting and to pray for our shared mission to bring aid, comfort and the healing to those in desperate need. Again, please visit missionofhopeandmercy.org. That is missionofhopeandmercy.org. And I want to thank you for your donations and for trusting us. With this, we want to pray and ask Almighty God. to bless us all and to keep us away from all dangers. For those who are suffering from tremendous amount of persecution, for those who are suffering from the absence of God as they do not feel it, trust in Jesus Christ, trust in the care of the Holy Family, trust in the care of the Virgin Mary. If you do not have a rosary to pray, try to pick up a rosary and pray. You know, we say, Lord, in your anger, do not punish me. We say, O Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger. Do not punish me, Lord, in your rage. Your arrows have sunk deep in me. Your hand has come down upon me. Through your anger, all my body is sick. Through my sin, there is no health in my limbs. My guilt tower is higher than my head. It is a weight too heavy to bear. My wounds are full and festering, the result of my own folly. I am bowed and brought to my knees. I go mourning all the day long. All my frame burns with fever. All my body is sick, spent and utterly crushed. I cry aloud in anguish of heart. O Lord, you know all my longing. My groans are not hidden from you. My heart throbs. My strength is spent. The very light has gone from my eyes. My friends, remember, the Lord is good. The Lord does not punish forever. The Lord will listen to us even when we are deaf. If we cannot hear, we will be able to hear the voice of God saying in our bodies, healing our bodies and our souls and telling us, come to me, all you have labored so hard and I will give you rest. So let us thank Almighty God for his love and for his mercy and do forever. With this, my friends, on behalf of our nation, on behalf of the new elected officials, the new elected president, Donald Trump, and the president in Lebanon, and who for me, it means a lot that in the Middle East, we still have representatives and governments and countries that represent a different aspect of religious freedom. The truth of the gospel still shines in the Middle East. the truth of the Bible still shines in the Middle East. This is so important that we accompany these events as a people of goodwill, as a people of God, as a people of faith. Whether on this radio show that we always do together, was Good Sunday Morning, was Father Andre, or anywhere else, and many other broadcasts, in your places of worship today, where you go, in your families, in your communities, we do have an obligation, we personally, to repent. We do have an obligation, we personally, to adjust our lives. We do have a personal obligation to reach out. You know, if you sit in the mind of the persecuted person, look at the psalm which we were reading earlier from Psalm 38. A sinner in extreme danger prays earnestly to God. Because even Jesus Christ, he stood in solidarity with our sin, right? Remember the Gospel of Luke chapter 23, verse 49 says, That is the gospel of St. Luke, chapter 23, verse 49 states, all his friends were standing at a distance. When the just man goes through persecution, through accusations, and is bullied, and unfortunately, his or her rights are being violated by the power of the abuser. You know, we as good people might stand and just watch, be bystanders. I wonder what could have happened if people came to the defense of Jesus Christ. And I’m not saying what happened. Definitely it had to happen. This is God’s will. But I wonder if we people sometimes will come to the defense of the poor, to the defense of the persecuted, of the unjustly treated. You know, there is a saying from St. Ephraim, St. Ephraim who died in the year 373. And the saying also has been repeated in the West by major philosophers. Something to the extent that says the worst evil good people can do is when good people don’t do nothing. And I think that’s why Jesus Christ died for us on the cross. Because the good people cannot come in solidarity and unity. I wonder, what makes the good people don’t come in solidarity with one another? What makes the children of light not coming together? Remember, in the mentality of a persecuted person, even as the psalm states, and again this is Psalm 38, my friends avoid me like a leper. Those closest to me stand afar off. Those who plot against my life lay snares. Those who seek my ruin speak of harm, plan and treachery all the day long. But I am like the deaf who cannot hear, like the dumb unable to speak. I am like a man who hears nothing. in whose mouth is no defense. I count on you, O Lord. It is you, Lord God, who will answer. I pray, do not let them mock me, those who triumph if my foot should slip. For I am on the point of falling, and my pain is always before me. I confess that I am guilty, and my sin fills me with dismay. My wanton enemies are numberless and my lying foes are many. They repay me evil for good and attack me for seeking what is right. O Lord, do not forsake me. My God, do not stay afar off. Make haste and come to my help. O Lord, my God, my Savior. Glory be to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit, as it was in the beginning, is now, and ever shall be, world without end. Amen. Good Sunday morning to you, my friends, and thank you so much for being with us on this radio show again and again. I ask you to go to our website, that is missionofhopeandmercy.org, missionofhopeandmercy.org, and please continue showing your support for the good work that we are doing at the Mission of Hope and Mercy. And let us conclude with this little prayer stating, do not abandon us, Lord our God. You did not forget the broken body of your Christ, nor the mockery His love received. We, your children, are weighed down with sin. Give us the fullness of your mercy. Amen.
SPEAKER 02 :
Thank you for listening to 33 Minutes on the Lord’s Day. To hear previous programs, visit the show page at missionofhopeandmercy.org. Listen to Father Andre every Sunday morning at 7.30 on KLZ as he speaks on the unity of Christians, religious freedom, and the biblical foundation of Judeo-Christian values and traditions. Join him in bringing hope and freedom to people across the globe while also strengthening your own faith, family, and community right here in Colorado. Reawaken the spiritual strength of America. Go to missionofhopeandmercy.org.
